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Hydride

In chemistry, a hydride is formally the anion of hydrogen (H), a hydrogen ion with two electrons. In modern usage, this is typically only used for ionic bonds, but it is sometimes (and has been more frequently in the past) applied to all compounds containing covalently bound H atoms. In this broad and potentially archaic sense, water (H2O) is a hydride of oxygen, ammonia is a hydride of nitrogen, etc. In covalent compounds, it implies hydrogen is attached to a less electronegative element. In such cases, the H centre has nucleophilic character, which contrasts with the protic character of acids. The hydride anion is very rarely observed.

Almost all of the elements form binary compounds with hydrogen, the exceptions being He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Pm, Os, Ir, Rn, Fr, and Ra. Exotic molecules such as positronium hydride have also been made.

Bonds between hydrogen and the other elements range from being highly ionic to somewhat covalent. Some hydrides, e.g. boron hydrides, do not conform to classical electron counting rules and the bonding is described in terms of multi-centered bonds, whereas the interstitial hydrides often involve metallic bonding. Hydrides can be discrete molecules, oligomers or polymers, ionic solids, chemisorbed monolayers,[citation needed] bulk metals (interstitial), or other materials. While hydrides traditionally react as Lewis bases or reducing agents, some metal hydrides behave as hydrogen-atom donors and act as acids.

Free hydride anions exist only under extreme conditions and are not invoked for homogeneous solution. Instead, many compounds have hydrogen centres with hydridic character.

Aside from electride, the hydride ion is the simplest possible anion, consisting of two electrons and a proton. Hydrogen has a relatively low electron affinity, 72.77 kJ/mol and reacts exothermically with protons as a powerful Lewis base.

The low electron affinity of hydrogen and the strength of the H–H bond (ΔHBE = 436 kJ/mol) means that the hydride ion would also be a strong reducing agent

According to the general definition, every element of the periodic table (except some noble gases) forms one or more hydrides. These substances have been classified into three main types according to the nature of their bonding:

While these divisions have not been used universally, they are still useful to understand differences in hydrides.

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any chemical compound having a hydrogen atom bonded to a more electropositive element or groups
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